Thursday 28 August 2014

BISHOP TREANORS FORMER HOUSE

IF THIS IS THE ONE HE'S LEAVING - I'D LOVE TO SEE THE BETTER ONE HE'S MOVING TO










43 comments:

  1. Its a long way from the stable at Betlehem to Belfast.

    Fr John - Los Angeles

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  2. It reminds me of the story of the priest's conference on POVERTY that took place in a 5 star hotel where the priests spent a week experiencing fine dining, fine wines, XO cognac and Cuban cigars. At the end of the week one of the bloated canons said: "IF THIS IS THE ONE ON POVERTY I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE ONE ON CHASTITY"

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  3. I had to look twice at those picture as it looked nothing like T Tarra the last time i was in it some 15 years ago. They must have gutted that place too.

    I've just checked online news report about the refurbishment of Kensington Palace in London for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The total cost to the public purse was 4.5 million!!!!!!

    A door handle in Lisbreen could feed a family in Africa or India for a year!

    If this is what a bishop lives in on earth i cannot wait to see the mansions they have waiting for the rest of us in heaven!!!

    Belfast, Blog Reader.

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    1. There is no heaven... That's the secret they don't want to let you in on. If the truly believed they'd be bending over backwards to outdo the good deeds of Jesus!!!!

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    2. Never mind, India or Africa, it could feed a family in Divis or Ballymena or anywhere in the Diocese were unemployment and child poverty is prevalent

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  4. Checked the website... Looks to have sold already to the highest bidder!

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  5. Bishop Treanor is getting £495,000 for Tieve Tara, his old house.

    That will buy him 1414 door handles @ £350 a handle for his new palace at Lisbreen.

    Or it will buy him 4950 rolls of wallpaper @ £100 a roll.

    Noel, is it not just terrible the way money just flies out of our hands these days?.

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  6. Disgusted!!!!

    Falls Man Franky

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  7. Is it true that there is a hot tub being installed in Lisbreen?

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  8. I do think a lot of nonsense is being talked here. Bishop Treanor is the leader of the Catholic Community in this part of Ireland and as such needs a residence that befits his status as a leader. He needs a large and private residence in which he can entertain guests, both clerical and lay, as well as be discreet enough to have priests and other visit him privately. I do not see anything wrong with the bishops former and current residence. Having been in his most recent residence many times it is a soberly furnished, almost austere place, with few if indeed any personal possessions. Lisbreen has been neglected for years an is falling down. Most of the money has been spent on unseen repairs and all of it has been approved by the Trustees of the diocese as well as the Charity Commission. Pat I seem to recall that you don't live in a one bed council flat in some dreadful sink estate. Is it not the case that you too live in a five bedroom house, and have done so for decades rent free? I think this is definitely a case of the kettle calling the pot black. At least thats one thing you have in common with real bishops. you live in big houses far removed from the lives of those who support you. No?

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    1. Where then is the need for door handles at £350 each and wallpaper at £100 a roll?

      Pope Francis lives in 2 rooms in a Vatican hostel and he is the leader of 1.3 billion catholics.

      Would Francis approve of the Lisbreen renovation?


      Priest. D&C

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  9. The above comment is crazy. Some years ago I was a heroine addict living on the street and well on the way to my death when Pat Buckley took me to live in his house in Larne having failed to get me into a treatment centre. Pat personally detoxed me over the period of a month and I lived in Larne for nearly 6 months. In his house there was a chapel, a kitchen and a toilet downstairs and a room behind the kitchen which was occupied for most of my time there by a an ex prisoner who was trying to get his life back. Upstairs there was a sitting room and 4 bedrooms. Pat was in one. His lovely mother was in another, I was in a third and the fourth was nearly always occupied by a homeless person. When I was well enough I tried to repay Pat by trying to do some cleaning and decoration. He bought the paper and paint in b and q. I do not know anything about the bishop of Belfast but if he lives like Pat I hope he has a 30 bedroom house.

    One of Pat's former vip's

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  10. A POEM FOR BISHOP TREANOR by Peter Allen

    The people came to hear you,
    The poor, the lame the blind;
    They asked for food to save them,
    And you fed them, body and mind.

    The ones who didn't listen,
    the rich, the safe, the sure;
    They didn't think they needed,
    The offering of a cure.

    And its hard for us to listen,
    Things haven't changed at all;
    We've got the things we wanted,
    We don't want to hear your call.

    Yet millions still have hunger,
    Disease, no homes and fear;
    We offer them to little,
    And it costs them very dear.

    So help us see the writing,
    Written clear upon the wall;
    He who doesn't feed his neighbour.
    Will get no food at all.

    PP D&C

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  11. This obsession with the cost of wallpaper and door handles is, quite frankly, absurd and is missing the point. Its the difference between spending £50 on a pair of shoes and £500. The cheap ones will last six months at most and have to be replaced, the more expensive ones will last ten years and if properly treated, soled and healed regularly could last 30 years (I know this from personal experience s I haven't had to buy a pair of shoes in 40 years). No, those who blog about wallpaper and door handles are missing the point. Bishop Treanor is investing for the future, not just for his time as bishop but for those good men who will succeed him in the decades to come. It is worthy spending money now on quality in order to prevent future expense. The same is the case with any public building, be it The Speakers House in Parliament, Buckingham Palace or any of the Royal residences. A stitch in time saves nine, as my grandmother used to say.
    As to pope Francis and his two rooms. Again a lot of nonsense is spoken about this by ignorant people who have never been anywhere near the Casa Sancta Marthae. I have actually stayed there on many occasions and have met the Pope there. It is far from a shack. Rather it is a tastefully appointed residence with marble floors and good furniture and exquisite art work on the walls. If you google images you will see. When St John Paul designed the residence for the Cardinals who would meet in Conclave after his death he decreed that "no expense should be spared" and it wasn't. So please get the facts straight before you comment. The Casa is less palatial than the Apostolic Palace, to be sure, but it is still a palace, albeit a smaller one. Please leave our good Bishop alone. He deserves some comfort and is more than generous in sharing both his former and current residences with those who come to his door.Please be more faor and balanced in your treatment of these issues and stop the ranting and raving.By the way, I am also a PP in DandC, and a senior one at that. I feel I must speak up for a bishop who has been severely maligned and unfairly so (Noel, that is).

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  12. Dear Colleague,

    If you were spending £50 on shoes - 40 years ago in the early 1970's you were well shod.

    In 1970 a gallon of petrol - 4.t litres cost £1

    Today that would be £5.20.

    If your shoes were £50 in 1970 that would be £250 today.

    How many people can buy shoes at £250 a pair?

    Obviously you can - so of course you suport +NT. If a priest can spend £250 on shoes then a bishop can spend £350 on a door handle and £100 per roll for wallpaper.

    Do you really believe that Pope Francis would approve of the money +NT is spending on Lisbreen??? If so why did he remove the Bishop of Bling recently

    PP D&C

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    1. Most families live on £250

      Margaret. Rosetta

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  13. I buy Clarke's shoes at £39. They do me for 2 / 3 years

    Pat

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  14. Unbelievable!!!!

    Clearly no one is denying this spending!!

    Didn't know there was a thing as a senior pp - talk about blowing smoke up ones own ..... You'll never get a penny from me again and I'm going to tell as many people as I can about this millionaire bishop. This spending would make Elton John Blush!
    Belfast, blog reader

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  15. Cahal Daly renovated Lisbreen in 1985 at a great cost.

    Why does it need to be totally redone 29 years later

    Priest

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  16. Is the plan to hold senior priests meetings in a hot tub?

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    1. Some of them already hold meetings in the sauna :-)

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    2. And many of the rest of them are swimming in de-Nial

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  17. I wonder could a D&C priest answer me this. A a practising catholic, would Noël give me a tour of his new crib if I called up.

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  18. I am sure that he would if you are "bone fide", in other words if you are in "good faith" and not just looking around to cast aspersions and criticisms. Bishop Treanor would be the first to admit that the Bishop's house is not his personal property, but belongs to the people of the diocese as it is through their generosity over the generations that the house was obtained in the first place and maintained and updated. More nonsense from ignorant persons about the renovation under His Late Eminence Cardinal Daly. Bishop Daly when he arrived in the diocese found a house that was falling down with structural problems that had been neglected by Bishop Philbin and Monsignor Mullally. These needed urgent attention to prevent the whole place from sinking into the grounds. Bishop Daly also had to build a library extension to house his extensive and world-renowned collection of books. I don't think that any serious minded and fair minded Catholic would deny the bishop his academic pursuits? Bishop Daly, whatever ones personal view, was a man of great intellect that brought great honour on the Irish Church, a fact reflected in his writing all the the speeches for Saint John Paul during his Irish Visit in 1979, and by the fact he that was named Cardinal by the same saintly pontiff. I am appealing for balance in this debate. The bishop has the right and duty to care for to the best of his abilities the "temporal goods of the Church", to fail to spend the money on his residence would be a neglect of his duty in Canon Law. There is no comparison with the situation of the former Bishop in Germany who was quite clearly psychiatrically ill and had an obsession with spending money. I wont even deign to reply to the slanderous and deeply offensive comments about hot tubs and saunas.

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    1. Then let Bishop Treanor publish the full accounts of his "restoration" of Lisbreen.

      And let him have an OPEN DAY during which any priest or person can have a tour of the restored Lisbreen.

      What person - especially a supposed Servant of Jesus - builds a private library in his home?

      You say Cahal Daly brought homour to the Irish Church? Was that by covering up for Brendan Smyth and then passing the blame to Smyth's religious order?

      Yes he was named a cardinal by John Paul 11 - who personally covered up for the serial sexual abuser Father Maciel Marciel of the Legionaries of Christ!

      The same "saintly" pontiff ordained the current paedophile papal nuncio Wesolowski to both the priesthood and episcopate.

      John Paul 11 should be declared the patron of paedophiles!

      You say that Bishop Bling is mentally ill? Why is he waiting in Rome for a new appointment?

      I would be surprised if Bishop Bling's handles cost £350 a pop or his wallpaper £100 a roll.

      Father - what planet are you living on?

      PP D&C

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    2. Not the same demented one as you thank goodness. All you allege dear father is hearsay and not substantiated in one jot. I suggest you contact the bishop with your suggestion about the Open Day. If the bishop sees you as a trustworthy and sincere man I have no doubt he will entertain your suggestion. In fact I know he will.

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    3. I will put it on the agenda for the next Council of Priests - after all they are all so radical.

      Maybe during the Open Day they could serve Mundies and Cheese?

      PP D&C

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    4. Who's the cynic now?

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    5. Its a pity Father Joe is not still in ministry. He could have arranged the flowers and served the hors d'oeuvres. He might still be willing to donate some pizzas and maybe the music for the open day could be provided by Fr Hugh and the boys?

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  19. So, after all the blogging and comments we are no further forward. +Noel Treanor will spend away and no one around him is willing to comment, deny or clarify. We are less than dandruff on his shoulder.

    The reaction from Lisbreen seems to be comtempt for concerned priests and people.

    I am beginning to feel that up there in Lisbreen there is no faith; no spirituality; no prayer; no Gospel values; no respect - just self serving clerics, canon lawyers and service providers lining their own pockets and papering their own walls.

    What is happening in Lisbreen is absolute cynicism. As Matthew Perryman Jones said:

    "Cynicism is nothing more than soul-rot. It is nothing more than a coward dressed up in a tweed blazer smoking a Peterson pipe. It is dismissive and disengaged while looking invested and astute".

    In our case the Cynicism is dressed up in episcopal purple holding an extravagant crosier.

    Why - Oh why - have I given so much of my life to this empty, cynical Church that just looks back with a sneering contempt.

    Priest - Down and Connor

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  20. The "extravagant crosier" [sic] that you seem to know so much about was a gift to the bishop from his former colleagues at COMECE in Brussels. They also provided the bishop with his choir dress. Bishop Treanor is a modest man with simple tastes. Anyone who knows him will tell you that.

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  21. Indeed - only a modest man with simple tastes shops in antique shops, has an interior designer to plan his home and likes to repose regularly in Paris and Brussels. I suppose you'll be telling us next that he drinks Mundies with his dinner :-)

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  22. If our current bishop has simple tastes I sure hope our next bishop will not have expensive tastes!

    I wonder how much gold plated door handles cost?

    PP D&C

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  23. What on earth is "Mundies"?

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    1. Its the 2nd Cru of Buckfast Abbey :-)

      PP D&C

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  24. Was that Bishop Treanor I saw this morning about 10 having a sausage bap in a garage on the Antrim Road?

    Mick Glengormley

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  25. Pat - someone needs to get a handle on this situation.

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    1. I agree. But where could you get a handle at 6.30 om on a Friday?

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    2. Ring Belfast 776185

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  26. Broad Minded Parishioner30 August 2014 at 16:12

    You have to wonder at spending so much on door handles. A door handle is a door handle isn't it? I have Edwardian ones in my house - they are the originals and still going strong. I don't think much was invested in them at the time the house was built.

    As for saying that if you spend more on a good shoe it will last, you are so misguided. That may have been true 40 years ago but in today's greedy times you are just succumbing to the notion that if you pay more you have significantly better quality. I have seen household items that are exactly the same (and I don't just mean they look the same I mean they are from the same manufacturer) for sale on one website for one price and on another for a 200% higher price. The more expensive website preyed on those who thought if they were buying through this brand they were getting superior, eclectic goods. Not so. They were paying for the "beautiful" cream cardboard box it was delivered in for starters. I recently bought some jeans from an upmarket brand and they were no better made than the ones I had bought at Sainsbury's previously for a fraction of the price. I had been totally taken in by the label. I am not saying that lower priced items are good quality but they are what the majority of us are only capable of affording. A £39 shoe is likely to have involved child labour or some raw materials supplier being ripped off (I'm not having a go Bishop Pat - I have to buy the same). What I am saying is that at £100 per roll of wallpaper I don't think you are honestly seeing an improvement in quality or durability commensurate with the price tag - you are paying for the design and a brand and you are paying too much because at heart you are ostentatious and gullible.

    If these price tags being reported are correct it would have been better for +NT to pay for goods that represented proper value for money in terms of having been ethically produced and modest in nature.

    And don't get me started on having a residence befitting a senior Church leader to entertain and receive guests - that argument is flawed and bordering abhorrent on so many levels – remind yourself of where the 3 kings met Jesus for the first time.


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  27. I agree entirely with those comments criticising NT's spending, and especially with last criticism of "need for residence befitting his status as a senior church leader".
    Frankly the PP commentator earlier supporting this "need" is talking absolute out of date rubbish. He's probably just another one of those decrepit old throwbacks of an earlier age of privileged clergy who believed in their right of deference from the common people, aka the laity.
    MournemanMichael

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